Wire button loop having tipping strap-binding-and-release slides



Sept. 23, 1941. H, w L 2,257,073

WIRE BUTTON LOOP HAVING TIPPING STRAPBINDING-ANDRELEASE SLIDES Filed March l3,'l94l Fl Q 4 Patented Sept. 23, 1941 UNITED STATES, PATENT cem WIRE BUTTON LOOP HAVING TIPPING; STRAP-BINDING-AND-RELEASE SLIDES George Henry Elwell, New Haven, Conn.

Application March 13, 1941, Serial No. 383,128

3' Claims.

This invention relates towire button loops having a tipping strap-binding-and-release slide.

The objects of the invention are to provide a wire button loop with a sheet-metal, hinged member having a strap passage therethrough and definite tipping positions for the insertion, binding and release of a strap; to provide the upper bar of a wire button loop with strap binder formations within the strap passage of the hinged member; and to provide in the front plate of the hinged member a section thereof depressed from the rear as head-room for the projecting formation of said upper bar, said depressed section having cut-metal edges exposed therein in the plane of the front plate.

Referring to the accompanying drawing the Figure 1 is anupright face view of loop slide; Figure 2 is an upright rear view; Figure 3 is a cross-section of the loop slide with the slide in tipped strap-receiving position; Figure 4 is a cross-section of the loop slide with the slide tipped in strap-binding position; Figure 5 illustrates a formed but unfolded template of the sheet-metal member; and Figure 6 illustrates a section of the wire button loop provided with projections.

With more particular reference to the accompanying drawings the wire button loop I is of a well-known type having at its top portion a horizontal loop 2 with an upper bar 3, side bars 4, spaced aligned lower bars 5 and a pair of depending arms 6 cooperating to provide the button-receiving loop 'I and the button-retaining loop 8 intercommunicating by means of an intermediate constricted throat portion 9. Of course no claim of novelty is claimed for the foregoing structure but, for the purpose of the improvement about to be explained, the upper bar 3 of the wire button loop I is formed with spaced humped projections I0 extending out of the plane of the Wire button loop I substantially perpendicular thereto.

The sheet-metal member 2b, as illustrated in a formed template by the Figure 5, has the front plate 2| having in a parallel plane thereto by means of connections having openings 2223 a rearwardly spaced rigid support 24 provided thereacross with the groove 25 for the seating therein of the aligned portions of the wire upper bar 3, the metal straps 26 being cut partly out of the body portion 21 of the sheet-metal of the support 24 adjacent the groove 25 and bent over the extreme ends of the wire bar 3 as a means of hinging the sheet-metal member 20 to the wire button loop I. A central elongated area of the front plate 2! is provided with the depression 28 to present at the rear side of the plate ZI a cupped formation for a purpose to. be explained. Cut-metal edges or teeth 29 are cut, as it were, from the lower portion of the depressed section 23, at the perforations 39 made thereby, the cut-metal edges or teeth 29 lying substantially in the plane of the front plat 2i With the formed wire upper bar 3 seated and secured asaforesaid within the groove 25 the mp a e is o ded, pon thev dot ed lines 3 and 32 so that the sheet metal of the member 28 forms a rectangular open space therethrough after the meeting edges. 33, 34 are spot-welded together, the extremities of the wire upper bar 3 extending through their respective slots 22 and 23 so that each Wire side bar 4 lies wholly outside of the sheet-metal member 26] thereby permitting the sheet-metal member 20 to be tipped'upon its hinged relation to the Wire button loop I and within the horizontal loop 2, the wire formation projections I0 being provided with head-room within the cupped formation of the depressed section 28 of the front plate 2 I. Before final assembling of the members I and 20 the depending sheet-metal portion 21 of the support 24 is rearwardly bent into an inclined plane relatively to that of said support.

For strap engagement, the sheet-metal member 20 is swingingly tipped upon the wire button loop I substantially into a plane perpendicular thereto, as illustrated by the Figure 3, to obtain a free strap passage 35 over the then parallelly related wire projections I0. With the strap S inserted within the passage 35 the sheet-metal member 20 may then be swingingly tipped back again into a position whereby the member 20 is in substantial alignment with the wire button loop I in which position, as illustrated by the Figure 4, a portion of the inserted strap S is crowded into the cupped formation of the depressed section 28 by contact with the projections Ill behind the strap S, the said crowdingof the strap S engaging it with the cut-metal edges or teeth 29. The free end 36 of the strap S if manually inserted from the front into the horizontal loop 2 and in front of the inclined portion 21 of the support 24 the sheet-metal member 20 will be held thereby in alignment with the button loop member I against a tipping strap releasing position with an open strap passage 35.

The operation of this Wire button loop sheetmetal slide must not be confused with leverclamps found in the art; for the wire button loop I is not a lever. It is a base upon which the sheet-metal member 20 is hinged. In use while worn against the body of the wearer it would prove impracticable to be expected to swing the wire button loop member I at right angles with the sheet-metal member 20 towards the body of the wearer. Therefore, while the art discloses a sheet-metal button loop in the form of a lever flange, it will be noted that such lever flange is so associated with its slide member that its operation naturally is by swinging such lever flange outwardly away from the body of the wearer. In other instances where the previous art discloses an L-shaped flanged lever it is shown to be operable by means of a short finger piece directly or through the medium of an attached strap. It is clear therefore that the method of operating the wire button loop sheet-metal" slide herein described may be rightly said to be confined to the tipping movements of the sheet-metal member 20. r

I claim:

1. A wire button loop and a' relatively hinged slide, the slide having a strap passage therethrough; projections within the passage and provided by, and at an angle with, the button loop; and means carried by the slide and cooperating with the projections to permit the insertion of a strap within the passage upon one tipped position of the slide upon the button loop and to bind the inserted strap against movement within the passage upon another tipped position of the slide upon the button loop.

2. A button loop slide comprising the association of a wire button loop and. a sheet-metal slide member hinged to an upper bar of the wire button loop; 'a front plate and a strap passage behind the plate with which the sheet-metal member is provided; projections provided by the said upper bar and extending out of the button loop plane within the passage; and means provided by the said front plate and cooperating with said projections to permit the insertion of a strap within said passage upon the tipped perpendicular position of the slide member to that of the wire loop plane and causing the inserted strap to bind within said passage upon the tipped position of th slide member into alignment with said button loop plane. a

3. A button loop slide comprising a wire button loop having at its upper portion a horizontal loop with an upper bar, side bars, spaced aligned lower bars and depending arms co-operating to provide button receiving and retaining loops intercommunicating by means of an intermediate constricted throat portion; forwardly extending projections with which said upper bar is formed in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the button loop; a sheet-metal plate member having in a parallel plane thereto a rearwardly spaced rigid support hinged to said upper bar and enclosing said projections; headroom provided in said plate for said projections; cut-metal edges exposed Within said head-room and in the plane of said plate; and a rearwardly bent flap rigidly carried by said support into close engagement with said aligned bars and extending through said horizontal loop; whereby the sheet-metal member may be tipped into parallel relation with th projections for the insertion of a strap behind said plate and then tipped into parallel relation with the button loop plane to register said head-room with said projections behind the inserted strap thereby wedged within said head-room and against said cut-metal edges, the extremity of which strap passed into the horizontal loop and in front of said flap maintaining th relative alignment of the slide with the wire button loop.

GEORGE HENRY ELWELL. 

